friends of mine who don't care about sport or tennis all have heard or read this dirty paper ! Anyway, gilles said to have speak with gael and the others, and there is no problem with them ! well, just look for the end of this week !

27.03.2011
Gilles Simon is working his way back up the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings after recovering from a knee injury.

Gilles Simon is one of the toughest players on tour to beat when he’s at his best. He may not be considered to have one defining shot, but possesses the firepower and intelligence to hit toe-to-toe with the likes of Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych.

The former World No. 6 has won eight ATP World Tour titles, reached the semi-finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 2008 and is approaching 200 tour-level singles wins. Out for a large stretch of last season with a recurring knee issue, the Frenchman is now hitting his stride, and has moved back inside the Top 30 of the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings for the first time since May 2010.

We caught up with the No. 25 seed at the Sony Ericsson Open after his 6-4, 6-3 second round victory over qualifier Rainer Schuettler on Saturday.
You began year with a title in Sydney and a five-set clash with Roger Federer at the Australian Open. How do you feel about your form coming into Miami compared to last year when you were here, struggling with injuries?
I’m feeling pretty good. I’ve had some consistent results so far. It’s definitely feels much better than last year with the knee problems I had. In Marseille last year, I felt pain in my knee. After Dubai, I flew to the States and struggled, especially in Miami. After losing there, I had a second surgery and was out for three months.

This year has been nice so far. My ranking has moved up and it’s hard to do that when you haven’t played a full year of tennis in a row. I have no points to defend until Wimbledon, so I’m aiming to continue playing well and improve my ranking even more.

Your son was born during the US Open in 2010. What has this life-changing event meant to you and has it changed your approach to the game in any way?
It’s the best thing that could have ever happened to me. It’s wonderful having a family, and I really love it when Timothee and Carine are with me at the tournaments.

It hasn’t really changed how I look at the game. Unfortunately when you’re on court, you have to focus on tennis. But I miss them when they’re not traveling with me. I remember last week when I lost at Indian Wells, I had to wait ten days… it was a long wait. I was so happy when my family arrived here.

You’re one of a handful of players to have a least one victory over each of the current Top 5. What is it about your game that makes you a formidable opponent?
I’m more confident when I play the top opponents. It’s a strength, but also a weakness; my level and confidence is higher when I play the best players and I always seem to bring out my greatest tennis in those match-ups.

With the lower-ranked players, it’s more complicated. Like today, I was up 5-1, 40-15 and then all of a sudden it was 5-2, 5-3, 5-4… it’s almost impossible for me to win a match 6-2, 6-2!

I’m told you like McDonalds. What makes you crave their food? Do you have a favorite item on the menu and does France have anything unique that’s not here in the States?
Haha. McDonalds is perfect. It doesn’t look good to some people but I love it. The best thing about McDonalds is you can find one anywhere. When I spend two, three hours on court playing tennis, I can eat whatever I want because I deserve to.

Even when I was injured last year, I was eating it. It didn’t go down so well with my wife… she doesn’t like it. But I wasn’t gaining any weight and when I play tennis, I work hard, so why not eat there?

I don’t have a clear favorite item but I like the McBacon. To answer your question, this is something I get in France and I haven’t seen in the US. They should add it to their restaurants over here!

--------------------------------------------------------------

Last year when the commentators kept saying that he had surgery, I thought they were misinformed, but it seems that he really did have surgery ...

at the Macdo question. I don't think he'll ever get fat as long as he maintains an average level of activity.

Indeed looks like he got married, shame we didn't get to see at least one pic. I'm curious to see the dress and how he matched his suit.
Have to say I didn't pay attention to find a ring when I saw Carine. Was a bit hard to pay attention to anything else than the very cute interaction between the little family.

I'm surprised poeple in here still haven't got the hang of Gilles' English dialect.

I had a surgery = I had a MRI scan
wife = long time girlfriend

But he at least had like 5 scans before Mia last year, I don't buy that.
He's been calling her "wife" consistently now, he used to call her fiancee/gf...how hard is it to learn the meaning of the word "wife" in English . But anyway, we won't ever see those wedding photos whether it happened in the past or the future, that's for sure.

But he at least had like 5 scans before Mia last year, I don't buy that.
He's been calling her "wife" consistently now, he used to call her fiancee/gf...how hard is it to learn the meaning of the word "wife" in English . But anyway, we won't ever see those wedding photos whether it happened in the past or the future, that's for sure.

He's referring to the two thorough exams he had with FFT Montalvan, the first one indicating the healing process was going well, the second one showing it had regressed. Both Montalvan and Gilles repeatedly said surgery wasn't a worthy option for that sort of ligament tear.

He would call her "wife" in French too, like many other people in the same situation here would. It's a testimony to their commitment.

I wouldn't have expected to see pics of their son to be publicly released either.

Ya, I was surprised to see pics of his son too. But I think a lot has to do with his "high-profile" birthday story, that it seems he's been asked about his son so much more often than other players.

And I still don't think he refers to the MRI scan. I think he meant that procedure he took regarding putting something into the knee to help it heal (sorry, I can't quite remembered the whole thing). I read that last year when Jo injured his knee, the paper talked about Jo getting that procedure just like Gilles had earlier for his knee problem.

I think he would have been asked about it even if Timothée stuck to his due date, cause people are interested in that if he likes it or not.
And then it's better to publicly release some shots than get paparazzi running after them. I regularly see shots of players with their kids at tournaments for which clearly no permission was given.